Relationship between body image and eating disorders: A case study of females between 15-29 years old from Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

Research on the etiology, prevention, and treatment of eating disorders has increased over the past 3 decades, but in Iran there is no sociological study about eating disorders. So in this study, eating disorders has been verifi ed from a sociological perspective. Variables such as ICTs use, body-related social comparison, peer and parents' attitudes toward body were examined as the variables that could affect both body image and different types of eating disorders. The study sample was 600 girls and women between 15-29 years old of Shiraz (a city of Iran), were selected through multistage random sampling method. The results showed parents' attitudes toward body, BRSC, and ICTs use can affect both body image (body satisfaction & self-discrepancy as the tow components) and eating disorders, on the other hand body image can affect eating disorders. To examine the research model LISREL program was used and the independent variables could explain 63 percent of changes of the dependent variable.